Saturday, March 17, 2007

Saturday 03/17 Quickie:Worst. First Round. Ever.

The NCAA first-round returns are in, and this was -- without standard Shanoffian hyperbole or instant hysteria:

Worst. First Round. Ever.

No upsets. I steadfastly refuse to count 9-over-8 as an "upset," so we're left with two in the entire Tournament first round:

VCU over Duke, which will only grow in legend given its upset novelty.

Winthrop over Notre Dame, which nearly half of America saw coming, hardly qualifying it as a classic "upset."

No fantastic finishes. How pathetic (and/or symbolic) is it that VCU-Duke has to pull double-duty as both "best/only upset" and "best/only fantastic finish?" (Maybe VA Tech over Illinois on a 12-0 game-ending run, but that was less fantastic than ugly.)

This year's theme so far? Lame, predictable results.

And that is the worst possible thing to happen to the Tournament.

I guess it's testimony to the Tournament's history and legacy of upsets and wild finishes that a Tournament without them seems so... worthless.

I'm sure that as rounds go by and results (hopefully) offer upsets and great finishes, we'll forget about this first round. First rounds are rarely remembered anyway -- except for their upsets and wild finishes.

Which is precisely why this first round -- for all of our lamentations Friday night and Saturday morning -- is so forgettable.

How's your bracket look?

Tournament Challenge: I'm in the 72nd percentile of the Daily Quickie Readers group. But I lost one Sweet 16 team (Creighton) and one Elite Eight team (Georgia Tech). This was NOT the year to take a flier on a few underdogs going long.

National Bracket: The collective wisdom of all fans' picks is outperforming 72 percent of all individual brackets. But here's something interesting: The two outright upsets that were predicted on the National Bracket -- Gonzaga and Georgia Tech -- didn't happen. Seems like the "collective wisdom" couldn't foresee that the first round would suck so badly.

See yesterday's Quickie post below for my picks and previews for today's games. Let's just say this: We BETTER get some upsets and/or fanstastic finishes.

20 comments:

wow dan. a little over dramatic on the worst. first round. ever. call, wouldn't ya think? i'd rather focus on the fact that we should have some awesome second round matchups this weekend. also, there are still four midmajors left (butler, so. ill, creighton, vcu.) just because they're finally getting some respect seed-wise, it would still be pretty sweet to see a couple of those teams make it through to the sweet 16. i'm especially looking forward to the IU-UCLA and Butler-Maryland games today. yes, i am an indiana-homer.

i'm somehow tied for fifth place in the quickie group, and really pissed that VA Tech's 12-0 run cost me a 16-0 day yesterday. Seeing as how that happened in Columbus, where I live, makes it all the more ironic. Let me just say if I run into any Illionis people they gonna get some words.

Somehow I messed up and my Heroin Sheik entry never made it into this group which is good because im like in last place. The one in the quickie readers group is much better. I have all but one sweet 16 team still in and all my elite eights. Why did I think LBS would make it to the sweet 16. Man the gators looked strong last night. Hell other than Arkansas all the SEC teams looked pretty good. I think the gators were playing opossum all year long and are now showing how good they are. I love Jackson States' trash talking about the gators especially after watching them get destroyed in all aspects of the game.

In March of 2007, it was announced that James Brown would take over Gus Johnson's duties for the regional semifinals and finals in the 2007 NCAA tournament. Johnson still serves as a play-by-play announcer for first and second-round action.

Hm. So when Ohio State loses, will Oden come back to try again for a title?Or will he be so disgusted at how refs screw him on calls (mostly lack of) that he'll go pro? If you're going to get fucked by refs every night, at least earn a few million bucks while doing it.

In 2000, only two teams seeded below eight won in the first round (#10 Gonzaga and #11 Pepperdine) and in the end, it was a wild Final Four with a #1 seed, a #5 seed and two #8 seeds (though the #1 seed, Michigan State won).

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DanShanoff.com is a sports-blog spin-off of my long-time ESPN.com column, "The Daily Quickie." Anchored by an early-morning post of must-know topics, the blog is updated frequently throughout the day with new posts and user comments.